Mediagazer: Sources: the Athletic is no longer in merger talks with Axios, sees the NYT as the leading merger contender, and had ~$80M in revenue in 2020 with 600 staff (Benjamin Mullin/Wall Street Journal)

5:55 PM ET, May 6, 2021

Top News:

Victoria Lewis / WPTV:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has barred local media from attending the signing of a voting restriction bill; the event is a “Fox News exclusive” — Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed Florida's elections reform bill into law. DeSantis signed SB90, which includes restrictions on voting …

Benjamin Mullin / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the Athletic is no longer in merger talks with Axios, sees the NYT as the leading merger contender, and had ~$80M in revenue in 2020 with 600 staff — Publisher's talks with Axios are no longer active; New York Times Co. seen as leading contender for tie-up

Discussion: Insider, The Hill, Awful Announcing, OutKick, @jessicalessin, @damospin, @nbashaw, @bmorrissey, @mathewi, @donlday, @seangriffey, @niubi, @mathewi, @rafat, @dcseifert, @subjectburst, @keitholbermann, @alexweprin and @jasonschwartz

Esther Crawford / Twitter:

Twitter introduces Tip Jar, allowing everyone using Twitter in English to send tips, and a limited group, including journalists and experts, to accept tips — We $ee you - sharing your PayPal link after your Tweet goes viral, adding your $Cashtag to your profile so people can support your work …

Discussion: @twitter, TechCrunch, The Verge, @twittersupport, CNBC, Insider, 9to5Mac, Engadget, @luulubuu, @kozza, @lfc_rv, @chuckwendig, @jack, @jayjurden, @prsarahevans, @tomwarren and @taylorlorenz, more at Techmeme »

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

Q&A: Facebook Oversight Board director Thomas Hughes on upholding Trump's ban, why the Board isn't a PR stunt, Facebook refusing to answer its questions, more — Following months of speculation, Facebook's Oversight Board issued a quasi-decision Wednesday in the case of former President Donald Trump's account.

Discussion: New York Times, Daily Herald, New Yorker, @nicoleperlroth, @therecount, @issielapowsky, @ennisnyt, NPR and TVNewsCheck, more at Techmeme »

Oversight Board:
Facebook Oversight Board upholds Trump's suspension, but asks Facebook to review the decision within six months to determine a penalty consistent with its rules

Discussion: @oversightboard, Wall Street Journal, Lawfare, About Facebook, Washington Post, Digiday, Insider, 9to5Mac, What's the Big Idea?, @issielapowsky, @nick_clegg, Fight for the Future, @cnbc, The Atlantic, Vox, Financial Times, Mediaite, The Message Box, Fast Company, Vox, New York Times, Quartz, The Banter, @hawleymo, The Week, NPR, @latimes, CNBC, Today's Edition Newsletter, @thelastword, @mrctv, @johnlegere, @usatoday, The Wrap, @cnbc, @jaketapper, @karaswisher, @caseynewton, @repadamschiff, @can, @mikeisaac, @slpng_giants, @jayrosen_nyu, @base10, @arusbridger, @jeffbercovici, @digiphile, @jimsciutto, Politico, @garettsloane, @brandyzadrozny, @dylanbyers, @stevedeaceshow, @kurtwagner8, @jonathanvswan, @jonathanvswan, @goangelo, @kurtwagner8, @naacp, @tonyromm, @jeffjarvis, @jeffbercovici, @kurtwagner8, @mtracey, @chrislu44, @samuelstolton, @owenthomas, @blakereid, @adamserwer, @jeffjarvis, @jeffjarvis, @dylanbyers, @chriswelch, @donie, @meridithmcgraw, @mikeisaac, @frankpallone, @oliverdarcy, @robertmooreitv, @jess, @jason_pontin, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, @ceciliakang, @bplewis, @jason_pontin, @cwarzel, @alexhern, @shiraovide, @broderick, @sarafischer, @yashar, @jamesrbuk, @zaleskiluke, @silvermanjacob, @joannastern, @lawrencehurley, @keithedwards, @eschulze, @scottnover, @tomwarren, @brianstelter, @ceciliakang, @jason_kint, Vanity Fair, Mother Jones, TechCrunch, New York Times, CyberDisobedience, Brookings, The Guardian, Reuters and MIT Technology Review, more at Techmeme »

Margaret Sullivan / Washington Post:
The Oversight Board's decision on Trump's Facebook ban failed to send a clear message that a powerful public official can't use Facebook to endanger the public

Sara Fischer / Axios:

A record 44% of the NYT's 301K new digital subscribers in Q1 were to non-news products like cooking, games, and audio — The New York Times on Wednesday said it added 301,000 new digital-only subscribers last quarter, its slowest quarter for digital subscriber growth in over a year.

Discussion: @caitlinpacific, @jayrosen_nyu, @alexthomp, @kerrymflynn, @rmantri, @carlquintanilla, @nytmedia and @anthony

Melissa Guerrero / New York Times:

NYT hires its first editorial director of Games, Everdeen Mason, responsible for growing the audience and ensuring puzzles reflect and cultivate diverse voices — Everdeen Mason, The Times's first editorial director of Games, wants to keep challenging current players while reaching new ones.

Discussion: @adrienneshih, @nytimeswordplay and @jennaescribe

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

NY AG's office says fake comments, including 8.5M funded by largest US ISPs, accounted for ~18M of the 22M+ net neutrality comments received by the FCC in 2017 — The New York attorney general's office released a new report detailing the effort — The New York attorney general's office issued …

Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:

ViacomCBS Q1: 36M streaming subscribers, up 6M since Q4; streaming revenue grew 65% YoY to $816M; net earnings up 79% YoY to $899M, affiliate revenue of $2.08B — The entertainment giant, led by CEO Bob Bakish, reported higher first-quarter advertising revenue as its latest financials exceeded Wall Street expectations.

Discussion: Variety, The Streamable, Hollywood Reporter, Collider, @alexweprin, The Streamable, @brenbrenchie, The Wrap, Deadline, Light Reading, The A.V. Club, @thr, @loudmouthjulia and Variety

Olivia Messer / Study Hall:

The trauma of covering the pandemic has battered journalists, and the industry is losing a generation of reporters and editors to despair and moral injury — An underprepared industry is losing a generation of journalists to despair, trauma and moral injury as they cover the story of a lifetime.

Protocol:

Netflix is surveying users about their interest in features such as podcasts and user-generated playlists of shows and music, for a project called N-Plus — In a survey, Netflix is asking users how they would feel about a “future online space” called N-Plus. — Custom TV show playlists?

more at Techmeme »

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Roku beats estimates, with a Q1 net income of $76.3M on revenue of $574.2M, up 79% YoY; new active accounts grew 2.4M, reaching 53.6M, up 35% YoY; stock up ~7% — Roku gained 2.4 million new active accounts for the first quarter of 2021, showing that the pandemic-driven streaming momentum …

Discussion: Roku, The Wrap, Bloomberg and FierceVideo, more at Techmeme »

Sophie Huet / AFP Correspondent:

Restrictions in place due to COVID have led to the proliferation of press pools, which only allow for limited perspectives, and of events closed to the press — Paris - Insidiously, the coronavirus is attacking journalism's vital functions. Since the beginning of 2020 …

Joe Flint / Wall Street Journal:

Fox says it will acquire right-leaning sports outlet Outkick Media, founded by Clay Travis, who has extensive Fox ties through radio and cable appearances — Deal announced as Fox reports a 6.5% drop in revenue for the March quarter — Fox Corp. said it agreed to acquire Outkick Media …

Discussion: Variety, @claytravis, @claytravis, OutKick, Awful Announcing and The Wrap

Christopher Palmeri / Bloomberg:
Fox Corporation beats analyst estimates with Q3 revenue of $3.22B, down about 6.5% YoY; ad sales for the unit including Fox News fell almost 7% to $283M

Discussion: @bristei, @bristei, Variety, @newsynick, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @bristei, @maynereport, Fox Corporation and Radio & Television …

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State Government Reporter, WA — Seattle Times

Climate Crisis Columnist — Prospect UK

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City Correspondent, London — Financial News

Legislative Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

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Jemima Kelly / Financial Times:
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Joan E. Solsman / CNET:
In a pitch to advertisers, Twitter unveils a slate of new video programming, working with partners including Refinery29, MLB, NBCUniversal News, NHL, and WNBA

Discussion: The Hollywood Reporter, ScreenRant, The Streamable and @alexgiess

Katharine Viner / The Guardian:
On the Guardian's 200th anniversary, its EIC lays out her vision for the newspaper in its third century and what role media can play in a post-pandemic world

From Techmeme:

Kent Walker / The Keyword:
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Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Source: Google has canceled the development of a second-generation Pixel Tablet, planned for release in 2025, due to concerns that it wouldn't sell very well

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is testing a more conversational version of Siri, dubbed “LLM Siri”, with plans to release it in spring 2026 as part of iOS 19 and macOS 16

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